National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)A few days ago, there was a vote on a controversial policy to permit changing workplace election rules regarding votes on union representation. The proposed rule at issue was the shortening of the amount of time between a union filing a petition to hold an election for union representation and the actual vote. While the vote was heavily favored by union and labor lobbyists, it was opposed by most business groups. Because most employers do not hear about the vote until they are notified by the NLRB, the shortening of the amount of time between the petition and the actual vote is very important. Each side has many important actions to take prior to an election.

In terms of the union organizers, there is much that they need to do prior to the election. Before the vote can even happen, the union must collect authorization cards from 30 percent of the employees (saying they agree to be in a union). The union must then file a petition with the NLRB who becomes the referee in the process. Once this is done, the employer is notified to address any issues raised by the petition, such as the legitimacy of the petition signatures, which employees to include in the proposed bargaining unit, and so forth. The union must then prove there is an adequate showing of interest for the union (usually done with authorization cards). This is the most important thing the union must do before an election. If the union cannot gather enough interest from employees, then the petition is dismissed and the election will not happen.

The time between the petition and vote really comes into play with the employers. In most cases, the employers do not know about the petition and vote until they hear about it from the NLRB. There is much the employer must do if they want to fight the union and therefore the less time they have to deal with the matter, the less likely they are to win the case. Before the vote, the employer may challenge the showing of...

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...History
The NationalLaborRelations Act (NLRA), also known as the Wagner Act, was enacted in Congress in 1935 and became one of the most important legacies of the New Deal. Prior to the passage of the NLRA, employers had been free to spy on, interrogate, discipline, discharge, and blacklist union members. Reversing years of federal opposition, the statute guaranteed the right of employees to organize labor unions, to engage in collective bargaining, and to take part in strikes. The act also created a NationalLaborRelationsBoard (NLRB) to arbitrate deadlocked labor-management disputes, guarantee democratic union elections, and penalize unfair labor practices by employers. The law applied to all employees involved in the interstate commerce other than airlines, railroads, agriculture, and government.
The passage of the NLRA galvanized union organizations. Successful campaigns quickly followed in the automobile, steel, electrical, manufacturing, and rubber industries. By 1945, union membership totaled 35% of the workforce. In response to this growth, opponents of organized labor sought to destabilize the NLRA. In 1947, they succeeded with the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act, which added provisions to the statute allowing unions to be prosecuted, enjoined, and sued for activities such as mass picketing and...

...FINAL EXAMINATION
Park University (Internet)
MG 420 LaborRelations
Instructor: William R Mueller
Multiple Choice (2 points each)
1. In the United States, the concept that employees are entitled to a voice in the workplace because it is consistent with the fundamental doctrine of our political system is known as:
a. exclusive representative
b. Industrial democracy
c. Participative management
d. Critical industrial relations
Ch. 1, p. 9
2. Which of the following is not considered an argument for treating employees as “more” than simply another commodity that can be bought and sold in the labor market:
a. Most modern workers are completely dependent upon jobs, not property, in determining the quality of their life
b. Working adults spend a considerable proportion of their life at work and hence work provides an important social setting that greatly influence quality of life
c. When workers agree to supply their labor in exchange for pay and benefits, they are freely choosing to follow management’s directives.
d. Workers have feelings and free will that can, if they wish, interfere with the quantity and quality of work they perform
Ch. 1, p. 7
3. From a business perspective, the poor working conditions endured by workers in the early part of U.S. industrialization were problematic because:
a. Workers should have better lives than that
b. Workers were willing...

...became a widely used process to negotiate the terms of the labor contract. Wherever there are unions, representatives from both the management and labor side have collectively bargained for their respective constituents.
The first contract between the United Automobile Workers (UAW) and General Motors in 1937 was only a page long, whereas receive UAW-General Motors contracts have been hundreds of pages long and divided into several volumes (Budd 2013). Today the UAW builds cars for all unionized domestic car manufactures and every few years a new CBA is ratified to ensure both the company and the workers can adjust their demands based on the current economic environment.
In 2011 the UAW-CIO and Ford came together to renegotiate their agreement. As one of the few automobile manufactures able take necessary steps during the recession to prevent bankruptcy, Ford was looking to ramp up production while mitigating future employment costs. Ford did just that through effective negotiations with the UAW-CIO when a mutually beneficial contract was established (UAW-Ford, 2011) Recently, Ford made good on its promises and expanded the Claycomo plant on the edge of Kansas City, and added a third shift to its F-150 production line. Because the UAW-CIO was able to accept reduced wages for higher profit sharing both groups benefited. Ford is able to use the latest in innovation to create high quality vehicles at reduced labor costs,...

...MG240 DL LaborRelations
Research Assignment
1. Define the term “collective bargaining” and list and describe four issues that are mandatory components of a collective bargaining agreement.
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiations between the employer and a group of employees in which terms and conditions of employment are decided. Employees are usually represented in bargaining by a union. The major subjects of bargaining are as follows, compensation, personnel policies and procedures, employee rights and responsibilities, employer rights and responsibilities, union rights and responsibilities, and dispute resolution and ongoing decision making. In the United States when the collective bargaining process results in agreement by both parties, the provisions of that agreement are written into a legally enforceable union contract or bargaining agreement (Budd, 2013, p. 11). The union contract or bargaining agreement usually last from one to five years with a three year duration being the most common. (Budd, 2013 , p. 235).
A current example of collective bargaining is the situation between administrators at Wayne State University in Detroit Michigan and faculty members represented by the American Association of University Professors. Bargaining contracts were set to expire on 31 July 2012 and the issue at hand was tenured professors. School administrators are proposing to expand the faculty evaluation process not do...

...Reaction Report
Summary
Tim Devaney’s article “Companies cry foul over new guidance on social media policies,” examines how employer policies on social media use are violating Section 7 activities according to the NationalLaborRelationsBoard (NLRB). The NLRB found that six out of seven corporate social media policies it examined included provisions that fail to pass regulatory muster, proving too to enforce or too intrusive on their worker’s rights of free expression online. (Devaney, 2012, para 2) Employers are trying to control and prevent social media activities of their employees by mandating policies that are “overly broad or unlawful” thus infringing on the NationalLaborRelations Act’s (NLRA) employee protections to the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations. (Devaney, 2011, para 15 and 17) According to the NLRB, companies cannot interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise of NLRA Section 7 rights. (Devaney, 2011, para 18)
Devaney states that acting NLRB General Counsel Lafe Solomon states that “warning employee’s to think carefully about friending co-workers, not to reveal non-public information on any public site, or to report any unusual or inappropriate internal social media activity” (2011) are examples where various social media policy language impedes employee’s rights under NLRA...

...
Agenda
Historical overview of labor laws
Understand the effects of the legal system on unionization
Understand the major provisions of US labor laws
Understand the differences and similarities between US private and public sector law
Assignments
This week’s reading contained a lot of information! This material, however, is vital to your understanding of how we got to our current state of labor laws. Watch out for our close friends – efficiency, equity and voice – in this historical material.
Because there is so much information in Chapter 4, I’m going to “chunk” the information to make it easier for you to digest.
Following is a chart that summarizes the evolution of labor laws:
1790s to 1842
Common Law Conspiracy Theory
Unions as conspiracies
Dominance of injunctions issued without full hearings; heavy court presence
Injunctions applies to yellow dog contracts which the courts deemed enforceable
Mainstream economics foundation
1842 – 1932
Unions As Corporations
Danbury Hatters case (1842): union boycott violated Sherman Antitrust Act. Individual union members held liable for over $200K in damages.
Clayton Act passed giving unions the right to exist.
Prevailing view of unions as legal entities as long as there’s regulation
1932
Norris-LaGuardia Act passed
Great Depression legislation
Act sought to remove dominance of courts in labor...

...﻿
Unfair Labor Practices
John Rodriguez
HR353
October 5, 2014
Park University
Unfair Labor Practices
Labor practices and employer considerations have drastically improved over the many decades since laws such as the National Industry Recovery Act, Wagner Act, and Fair Labor Standards Act were established to help federally regulate employee labor practices in the United States. But even as companies have established better working conditions throughout the nation, there are still cases of unfair labor practices that continue. Cases such as these continue to litter the daily news stream where companies such as Walmart, Nike, and Apple have been ousted as continuing to practice unreasonable labor standards internally and outside the country, and are only brought to light when incidents or tragedies occur. This following paper will examine several cases of unfair labor practices brought against companies, the results, and the recourse that followed from public view.
Apple has become one of the biggest, richest and most successful companies in the world. The company has achieved a pace of innovation that is nearly unmatched in modern history. But with this innovation and pace come acquisitions of unfair labor practices that happen outside the country in China. According to an article published in the N.Y. Times (Barboza, Duhigg,...

...HUDGENS V NATIONALLABORRELATIONSBOARD
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND PUBLIC PROPERTY
AUGUST 13, 2009
DIANE SACHAROFF
BMGT 281 SUMMER
Our constitution gives us the right under the First Amendment to the Freedom of Speech. This seems like a fairly straight forward right, but what many don’t know is that the Constitution only guarantees our right to freedom of speech against abridgement by government, federal or state. (Hudgens v. NationalLaborRelationsBoard, 424 U.S. 507 Lexis).
In most situations freedom of speech is protected, but when you have another acting authority with their own rules of protection, things can become convoluted and a bit complicated. In the case of Hudgens v. NationalLaborRelationsBoard one such issue arose out of picketing union members who were told to leave private property while picketing. A labor dispute ensued and the case had to be decided by the Supreme Court over whether the NationalLaborRelationsBoard code of conduct should be followed, whether the First Amendment Right to Free Speech should solely be considered or if a combination of the two should be used in deciding the case. (Hudgens).
The issue of what standard should be applied and how it should be applied with regards to...